F32 with rot at both aft corners of salon

[Island Bob]

Hi Guys,

New user. You've got a terrific forum going. I'm hoping to become a Trojan owner in near future and I've been looking at several. Back East they were all over, but now that I've moved out West, there's not near the same selection of good used Trojans.

I'm looking at F32s, and the strongest candidate I've seen still has issues. When I pulled up the carpet in the salon, the wood decking at both corners aft by the door frame was damp and had rotted through.

Is leaking back there common? If seen before, is there a list of usual suspects I should be checking for to find the source?

I wasn't able to pull up that section of deck on this inspection and couldn't see any more obvious damage from either hatch -- nor could the yard tell me where they thought the water was originating. If anyone has seen this type leak before, does it tend to damage more than the deck?

If damage is contained just to the decking, how involved is that fix -- I see that the ply runs under the door frame.

Sorry to post so long first time... just a bit longer: The floor of the head/shower is soft. Is that glass supported by deck that I have to assume is also rotted? Or has the glass just gone soft (there's a nasty gelcoat spider right in the middle of the floor).

Thanks for any help,

Bob

I have photos of both problems, but can't see a way to add them to this message.

[mr elevman]

cheek out nime its titeld boat pics i all ready started gutting her thease are pre gut pics

[TADTOOMUCH]

I have a 1978 F-32 in excellent condition. I too have a very small area at the floor at the base of the salon rear windows on either side of the sliding door. My area is occasionally damp but not rotted. Usually when we get a huge amount of rain it gets damp. I have not been able to locate the source of the moisture yet. The affected area is only 2" square in each corner of the salon. I suspect it is coming from the caulk where the door meets the deck outside that has failed. Not a big issue at all.

Now on to the shower. I have no rot at all inside or in the stringers. In your case if the shower floor is soft it is probably because there was standing water for sometime in the hull that reached the floor under the shower. This could be a major concern. The fiberglass and gelcoat floor sits over a 3/4" marine ply base. If this is soft then everything forward of the shower was also under water for some time. Make sure you pull up all the floorboards forward of the galley and check the stringers. which run lengthwise to the hull and have the tops covered with fiberglass. There will be holes (called limber holes) that allow water to run front to back through the hull. up under those holes, there was no fiberglass or epoxy coating to protect the raw wood so if it got wet it soaked up like a sponge and over time it dry rotted into dust. Take a knife and poke up into some of the limber holes and see if it is soft or mushy. If that is the case, then you should look at another boat or have a good surveyor assess the extent of the rot and use that as a bargaining tool to purchase the boat knowing that you will have to solve the stringer problem which is time consuming and not easy or cheap.

Trojans are great boats and well built but the stringer issue did affect some models that did not have a forward bilge pump under the front step into the front berth. While at dock, water will leak from the propeller shafts and other sources and run to the front of the boat as it is bow heavy. If there was not a pump up there, the hull would fill with water all the way back to about the stairs. Only when underway would it run to the back and trip the pump to eject it. Later on they put a bilge pump up there to solve the problem. However, it didn't quite sit low enough in some cases to pump out all the water so the very front support below the berth still gets wet. I have this situation still and I am looking to put a pump in that I can get to sit very close to the bottom of the V in the hull then I will be totally dry while at dock.

Good luck and don't give up on your search for a great Trojan F-32. I looked at several and made offers on three that fell through and luckily came across the one I own now which is in the best shape of any I have ever seen with only 400 actual engine hours on Chrysler 360's and a mint interior. Paid $34,000 and it has all new Imron Paint top to bottom and AwlGrip bottom paint. The only thing I had to do was put in a water temp sensor and a new water temp gauge on starboard engine. Michigan freshwater boat.

Best advice is hire a professional certified surveyor. It will be well worth the 400 to 600 bucks and keep you from buying a money pit.

[Mac32]

Bob,
Cant say much for the leak in the salon, the only time mine got wet was when I had a leak on the upper deck drip rail, but i was never enough to cause rot or wet wood on the interior floor.
Currently I have my floors ripped up and am in process of a full stringer rebuild due to the open limber hole problem and water problem so make sure you check the stringers under the floor near the head and dinette area this seemed to be where most my rot started and spread even though the stringers in the bow were solid. The best way to see this is to pull the carpet up and unscrew the floor panels in the middle of the walkway. My marine surveyor did not do this and missed it, only for me to notice the floor under the dinette bounce and flex when I hit waves under power unfortunatly this was about 5 years later and the guy is nowhere to be found. The lesson I learned was never let the sales guy use his surveyor.........The deck was not stacked in my favor on this one.

If you want to see what it looks like under the floor take a look at my photo album of the project.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/558394609dmictG

I will try to get a pic of under the shower if you are curious.

[Stripermann2]

I know if I am washing the boat, the spray from the water will get between the seal of my back salon glass and get into the carpet area of the boat. I will need to remove and try to seal/caulk sometime over the summer.

Also as mentioned in another post, I have water drips on a hard rain when the boat is not under my covered slip from the bridge area and down through my overhead side flouresant lighting and then run back and drip right onto the carpet in the corner...

[TADTOOMUCH]

Mac32 what part of MI do you slip your boat?

I'm in South Haven.

Your stringer repair looks extensive but it looks like you are doing it very well from the looks of the detail work on all the replaced plywood. How long did it take to get all the old wood out and the new wood installed? Do you plan to fiber over the underside of the limber holes on the new stringers?

[Mac32]

Tadtoomuch, I slip my boat up in Holland (macatawa), actually I did have a 36 trojan tri cabin that I slipped down in South haven back in 1993-96 up river from the bridge (think it was called Black River Marina or Black water? ). What marina are you in?

De-Construction and clean up was around 35-40 hours and re construction and bedding all the new wood was probably another 50-60 hours now I am currently laying up the fiberglass that will be another 20-30 hours and I will be ready for bilge paint and the new floor. The only problem is I only get to spend 2-4 hours 1-2 days a week working on it. And yes every piece of wood under the cabin sole will be epoxy sealed and glass covered. I figure this repair should easily out live the boat (I never want to open the floor up again).
Then its new interior, window glass, and canvas this summer and new engines (rebuild) next winter and wala, shes practically a new boat.

Nice looking F32 you have, Do you have any other pictures? I am curious what the outside lines look like without the black stripe on the bridge and cabin side, I am considering removing mine. I am also curious about the interior? Does yours have the frint cabin door or is it open?

[TADTOOMUCH]

I am in Black River Yacht Club. I do have the front cabin door. All teak interior and original headliner in perfect condition. All new interior cushions and wall coveriing in berth and dinette. Everything else is original. Previous owner used it as a cabin on the water and only took it out in calm seas that is why low engine hours. I did just replace the old Monomatic with a Raritan head and new holding tank. Now all I need to do is put in new Chart plotter and radar. Do you have radar? If so how did you mount it?

[Mac32]

Thats the place, Black river Yacht club, thanks for the reminder. We were at River Noire for a year then we moved to the inside slips of BRYC about half way down the dock from the clubhouse slip 58 or 60? This was back when patterson marine was still there. Small world huh.

My boat came with the radar mounted to the front of the bridge, Ok if the display is on the lower helm but dont like it being right in front of you when piloting from the bridge. I think this is the summer for a aluminum flybridge mounted radar arch. I have seen a post mount bolted to the side of the bridge that raises it above the canvas top but dont know how much cheaper this is than the arch though?

Do you have a photo site of your boat?

[Island Bob]

Great info. I was afraid of that. The wood rot up top didn't worry me so much, but the head softness did. Was there a certain year when Trojan solved this problem? All the hulls I've been looking at have been 70s -- this is a '73, but there's a '75 and a '78 within a couple hundred miles. The '73 was the most rebuilt, with new EFI Crusaders, genset, full electronics (he put the radar dish on a custom Pipewelders-style arch attached to the flybridge). Original owner fished it heavy and even put in a custom fridge unit under the v-berth... waste of space to me, but I'd hoped that it meant they'd ripped up the bow and checked all the wood.

Tadtoomuch, I'll check where you suggest. If there's rot, I'll have to move on. I'm rebuilding a cabin right now -- I'm hoping that my next boat is a getaway from that kind of work, not more of it. Sounds like a great idea you have with the forward pump.

BTW, beautiful work Mac.

Just in case none of the NW boats work out, anyone know a rule of thumb for mileage cost on hauling one of these cross-country?

[TADTOOMUCH]

Check with Bob at beacon marine. He is the moderator of this site. He can give you the history of the problems of stringers and bilge pumps etc. as he used to work for Trojan until they closed in the 90's. He has the most knowledge and is very helpful.

I don't have a site yet with my photos of my boat.

[Island Bob]

Thanks.

You've got a gorgeous boat. That's the dream: to find something in shape like that.

[TADTOOMUCH]

Thanks for the compliment. I have changed my photo to another one I had from when they hauled my boat to storage for the winter. That's always a sad time of year but hey, winter is half over now.

[Island Bob]

Yep, these things definitely belong in the water. I'm sure looking at that photo has you itching to drop it back in.

My work made keeping a boat impossible for the last few years. Now, though, I've moved to an island where (as I've stressed to the wife) it's a "necessity." So I'm really looking forward to ending this dry spell.

On the older Trojan hulls that you've looked at, did you notice a lot of gelcoat cracking around the flybridge (especially beneath the overhang) and under the handrails that are screwed through the black accent stripes? Obviously the glass is thinner up there, I'm just wondering if it's a sign of hard use or potential problems with the structure up there.

[TADTOOMUCH]

I've seen it all. Yes I saw some with spiderweb cracks near the hand holds along the flybridge and also below the over hang. I also saw one where you could actually push on the side of the window frame and see the flybridge move. That was one to run away from which meant it saw a lot of wave pounding. Another place to see small cracks in on the deck around the hatch openings. Usually boats in the 1972 to 1976 range had those. At about 1977 things seem to improve. At about 1979 they started to take some of the interior teak out and they started looking cheap. Growing up my dad had a 1974 purchsed new and it had a teak toe rail around the deck and a rear teak deck. Guess who always had to help finish that teak! That's how I fell in love with the F-32 and also about the time I met my wife in high school. Still married after 23 years and just bought our F-32 last year.